1. Back at it again: So let's see. Commissioner David Stern emerged from Wednesday's negotiating session in New York cautioning reporters not to read anything into anything -- not "optimism or pessimism."

Remember, Wednesday was supposed to be the big, bad doomsday deadline, when at 5 p.m. New York time, if the players did not accept the proposal Stern sent them in writing after last Friday's session broke up, the offer was supposed to be withdrawn, replaced by a much worse one.

But 5 p.m. (or 2 p.m. here) came and went, and like Y2K, nothing really happened, other than the sides kept right on meeting before wrapping up for the night around 1 a.m. Eastern time. They then came out for separate news conferences and said pretty much nothing.

Well ... Stern did say that the dreaded deadline was put aside until this negotiating ends. So if things end today (or tomorrow or Saturday or whenever) with no deal, then things go doomsday.

Stern would offer up a 47 percent players' share of BRI, salary rollbacks and a flex cap and go from there. Players would start the process of decertification, or a similar move called disclaimer of interest in which the union ends its role as the players' negotiating body, thereby opening the way for an antitrust lawsuit.

Those two developments definitely lead to a pessimistic feeling that no basketball will be played in 2011-12.

What happened in that room Wednesday? Neither side would say, but both Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo and David Aldridge of TNT reported via Twitter that the sides made progress on three systems issues, with Aldridge adding that the mid-level exception remained a sticking point.

Union president Derek Fisher and executive director Billy Hunter did say the 50-50 split they had said they would be willing to take was not necessarily set in stone, that conceding it would depend on the owners giving ground on systems issue. But they've said that before.

Anyway, we've seen this whole act countless times now, with Twitter updates expressing progress and second-hand reports of optimism from league officials not in the room. Each time, any raised hopes came crashing down.

What's unclear, however, is if the sides are working under the assumption that the definition of luxury tax will remain the same. Luxury tax, remember, is defined by the collective bargaining agreement, so in essence, they could also re-write what it is.

In the last CBA, luxury tax was determined by a complicated formula. We'll let Larry Coon explain vis his "NBA Salary Cap FAQ":

[It] is computed
by taking 61% of projected BRI, subtracting projected benefits ($112 million
in 2005-06), and adjusting for whether the previous season's BRI was above
or below projections. They then divide by the number of teams (except
expansion teams in their first two seasons) to arrive at the tax level.

The tax threshold has been about $10 million more than the salary cap. For 2010-11, for example, the cap was $58.044 million and the tax was triggered at $70.307 million.

The Blazers were tax-payers last season, exceeding the threshold by $2.3 million. They also were tax-payers in 2008-09 (by $5.9 million).

Under the last CBA, teams paid a dollar-for-dollar match on tax, but all indications are that the next CBA will include a stiffer penalty. It's not completely clear if the sides have settled on a rate, although the league wants a much harsher one than the players do.

APGlen Davis' world could turn upside down under a new CBA.

3. Lockout fallout: We've written before that there will be some fence-mending to be done once the lockout ends between players and their own owners, such as Suns point guard Steve Nash (a strong players voice) and owner Robert Sarver (a hard-liner).

But there might also be some healing to do among teammates. Glen Davis has not been shy about expressing his feelings, going on Twitter to say players should take a 51-49 split back when the players were clinging to 52.5.

Davis' Celtics teammate the last four seasons, Paul Pierce, has been the leader of the faction that has been pushing for the union to decertify. Davis tells Murphy that his relationship with Pierce relationship has not put him in the loop.

"Paul has e-mailed me. He called once," Davis tells Murphy. "He doesn’t advise me on any of this. That’s what my agent does. He’s Paul Pierce. He doesn’t have to talk to me. But what (Pierce) basically says is to be prepared for anything."

You assume Davis' agent has informed him that, as an unrestricted free agent (you'd guess he is in the mid-level range), his options could be affected by systems changes. The Celtics were tax-payers last season, and they traded center Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City because they did not feel their could re-sign him.

Who knows if they want to -- or even can -- bring Davis back.

4. More (ahem) lockout fallout: Read into this what you will, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal didn't quite banner the news that former NBA star Allen Iverson had postponed his two-day tournament that was supposed to played this weekend.

Last week, a game in New Castle, Ind., was cancelled. It was supposed to feature such NBA players as Mario Chalmers, John Wall, Zach Randolph and Eric Gordon. The reason given was the "uncertainty" of the labor talks.

Now, I'm not suggesting that ticket sales were slow or players were dropping out (being neither a cynic nor ... well, whatever the opposite of cynic is), but the lockout might soon replace "dog ate my homework" for most popular excuse.5. Back to work: Training camps start Monday for the NBA Development League, and once again former three-time NBA All-Star Antoine Walker will be in Boise with the Stampede.

In other words, this is a guy who needs to get back to the NBA and make some money. To do that, he needs the NBA to be running. Boise is a start, and last month, when the Stampede announced they had re-signed Walker, the news release included a quote from him.

"I can’t wait to get back to Boise," Walker said. "It’s a great place to live and I’m hoping I can help this team make the playoffs and win a championship – we’ve got some unfinished business to tend to."